


(I’ll take you to) Another Place

by ambitioncutsusdown



Series: Four Idiots [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Conversations about Feelings, First Kiss, M/M, Mates, Multi, Slow Build, more kissing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-11
Updated: 2013-05-20
Packaged: 2017-12-11 13:57:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/799496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambitioncutsusdown/pseuds/ambitioncutsusdown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All in all, Stiles thinks it sucks balls and they need to fix it, because this is just stupid and going nowhere. All the ingredients are there, all they have to do is mix and stir. Put it in the oven for thirty minutes and devour. If they can’t even manage that, the four of them are just too pathetic for words.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tell me (you love me)

**Author's Note:**

> I know it's been a while, but I've gotten super busy with school/life in general so I'm very sorry for that! Anyway, I also know it's kinda a slow build, but in this fic, things are really gonna change. It'll be three chapters, in which they'll finally move from mono to poly relationships. I'm going to try to get all the chapters up before finals start, but honestly, I don't have much hope for that. But hey, I'm trying.  
> The additional tags will be updated with each chapter that follows.  
> I hope you people enjoy this :)

It’s funny how history goes sometimes. How people can assume one thing, but it’s not true at all. It’s actually so far from the truth you‘re not even sure how they came up with it.

Because contrary to belief, Scott was not Isaac’s first kiss.

And Derek was not Stiles’, and Allison was not Scott’s.

No one is quite sure what Derek’s was, though, and they’re too scared to ask him, fearing it actually was Kate and asking will trigger memories. No one wants to upset Derek any more than he upsets himself.

And no one knows about the others either.

They all think the first time Scott kissed someone, it was Allison, and it was love at first sight. Just like they think that Stiles had never kissed anyone until he and Derek gave in to their mutual tension and made out. Just like they think that Isaac and Scott slowly grew together and Scott was the first person Isaac kissed.

They couldn’t have been more wrong.

In fact, Scott and Stiles were each other’s first. It happened during the summer, on one of the hottest days so far. Scott was thirteen, Stiles fourteen, and they’d locked themselves up in Stiles’ bedroom, two fans on, pointed at both of them lying on the bed, trying to ignore the heat that was clogging up the room.

Stiles remembers it as sweat and spit and flailing hands.

Scott remembers it as nice and clumsy and tentative smiles.

Both of them were wearing shorts and tank tops, their shoulders touching. Sweat had dried on their skin. All in all, it was kind of gross, but Scott and Stiles were nearly joined at the hip so neither cared much about it. They’d talked about music and comics and TV shows and going back to school, and how many people in their class would’ve had their first kiss already. Scott admitted he hadn’t, and neither had Stiles. They’d turned their heads to look at each other, and somehow, without much effort, had slotted their lips together in an easy kiss. It was a little sloppy, a little clumsy, but not awkward. Swapping spit apparently was something that just happened in their friendship, and neither of them felt uncomfortable by it. When it was over, Scott just said “that was nice” before changing the subject to music once again.

After that, it sometimes happened again, but not frequently. They weren’t dating, after all. Just friends who played games together and sometimes kissed. It was natural, normal. They both liked it. It helped them improving their kissing skills, if anything.

By the time Allison came around, Stiles’ and Scott’s last kiss had been five months ago. They’d almost forgotten it was a thing that used to happen, and the events became a memory of the past.

When Stiles kissed Derek, it felt like a first kiss all over again, and Stiles smiled briefly at the memory of Scott’s lips against his own.

He never brought it up again – never felt the need to. Neither of them talked about it with other people, so no one knew about the lazy afternoons filled with homework and computer games and make out sessions. And no one needed to know, really. It was a thing in their friendship they didn’t feel like sharing. People wouldn’t understand anyway.

So when Derek and Stiles announced their relationship (or more like: the pact found out because they’re curious assholes like that), Erica commented on “Stiles’ virgin lips finally being claimed” and no one corrected her.

Even Derek thought he was the first person to ever kiss Stiles.

Isaac’s first kiss? It wasn’t Scott.

Everyone used to tease Stiles for being the awkward teenage loner of their pack, but as soon as he started to date Derek, Isaac got that label on him. Now, suddenly, he was the only one who hadn’t had a first kiss.

They were wrong.

True, it hadn’t happened that long ago, but it was long enough for people to stop teasing him about it.

After Isaac’s father got killed, he didn’t have a place to go. He didn’t know where to go, too alone and desperate to think even coherently. His feet carried him to Derek’s place without him noticing it. Both of them could use some company, to be frankly, and so it happened that Isaac moved in with Derek.

Well… move in as much as possible at a subway station, but they made it work, the two of them.

During the day, Isaac went to school. After, he trained with Erica and Boyd, but they went home eventually, leaving Derek and Isaac alone.

They started talking about everything. Things that mattered and things that didn’t – school, their past, the pack, the Kanima, the Alpha pack. Everything they could think of.

It was during one of those conversations that Isaac looked up at Derek, noticed how close the Alpha was sitting to him, and made the last distance between them disappear by pressing their mouths together. Derek was surprised, but responded almost immediately, guiding Isaac, giving him a chance to explore. They kissed for a long time, and if it hadn’t been for their supernatural healing, their lips would have been red and bruised, kiss-swollen.

They didn’t talk about it, and it only even happened three times again.

All three of those times after Isaac had had a nightmare and had crawled into Derek’s bed, looking for comfort and reassurance, which Derek gave him in the best way he could. Isaac found the best way to calm him down was by touch – a subtle press of Derek’s hands, a swipe of his tongue, a nudge of his shoulder.

It was a little bit weird, after, when Isaac got the news about Derek and Stiles. Seeing them kiss and thinking about how he’d felt those lips against his own. He wasn’t jealous, but it was a little bit strange.

What was even stranger, was the first time he and Scott kissed, and how Scott had that little grin on his face that clearly said _I just had your first kiss_. Isaac didn’t have it in him to correct the smaller boy.

So all the things everyone assumes about them – they are wrong. But no one ever said the truth.

Because if they had, if they’d know, they’d see their lives have gotten tangled together before they’ve even expected it. See their relationship has been a mess before it has even started. 


	2. (why don’t you) talk to me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The moment everything changes, I guess!  
> I wanted to wait a little longer (read: have more time betaing this) with posting this, but then the teen wolf trailer happened and I was a mess of emotions, so I decided, why the fuck not. So have this to celebrate the day we all broke down over a bunch of teenagers and/or werewolves. 
> 
> Also: this will probably be the last update in a six or seven weeks, because my finals are starting so I won't have the chance to write much. I'm sorry, but ugh. Nothing to do about it :(  
> Second also: this thing called "mates" is brought up in this chapter, but I've noticed already my definition of the word mate is different from that of most of the fandom (or at least the people I've encountered). If you wanna know more about it, you can leave comments or reach me [on tumblr](ambitioncutsusdown.tumblr.com). You can also just do either of those if you just wanna talk, because I like doing that. Talking to other teen wolf fans :) 
> 
> Apart from that, I hope y'all enjoy this chapter :)

It’s nearly three weeks later – nineteen days, Stiles counted them – when the four of them finally get together in a room with the intention to talk about… well… things.

Nineteen days in which he and Derek hardly touched, in which he learned Isaac and Scott didn’t smell like each other as much as they used to (Erica told him), in which he and Scott hardly hung out anymore, and in which Isaac didn’t speak to either three of them as much as he used to.

All in all, Stiles thinks it sucks balls and they need to fix it, because this is just stupid and going nowhere. All the ingredients are there, all they have to do is mix and stir. Put it in the oven for thirty minutes and devour. If they can’t even manage that, the four of them are just too pathetic for words.

So maybe he planned it.

Maybe he arranged another pack meeting at Derek’s loft but _accidentally_ forgot to invite the entire pack.

Maybe he’s a little bit of a bitch at the moment, but he hopes things will work out and they’ll all thank him for it later. Hey, he has to do something, right? People can’t expect him to just sit and wait and watch how his life is turning into a joke.

So something needs to be done, and if possible before the tension between the four of them reaches its peak and will seep into the pack, messing up everything they’ve worked for. As long as they keep circling around each other, the pack will circle around each other as well, which is good for exactly no one. At all.

It’s unusual that they all feel like this, yes, he knows that. According to society, four guys are not meant to develop certain feelings for each other and act on them.

But hey, according to society, werewolves are nothing more than myths and legends. Out of all the weird things that have happened to Stiles, wanting to start a polyamorous _thing_ with three werewolves is fairly normal.

Right?

Okay maybe not so normal, but it’s not that weird either. Werewolves exist, polyamorous relationships exist. Why not combine the two. Mix ‘n match until satisfied.

Doesn’t make it any less awkward to be in one room with said three werewolves, while they can do nothing but stare at each other and frown.

God, it’s going to be a long evening.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Stiles manages to force all of them down on couches, but any attempt at conversation is shut off by the lack of reply. It’s slowly driving Stiles up the walls. They all admitted in one way or another they want this – so he simply doesn’t get it.

He doesn’t get why Derek keeps staring and Isaac keeps avoiding everyone’s gaze and Scott looks like he wants the world to swallow him whole.

“The point of having a conversation is talking,” he finally says, a slightly frustrated edge in his voice. He’s trying, alright? He wants to give this a shot. But he’s the only human in the room, for Christ’s sake. He shouldn’t be the one to start this.

Thought maybe, he should, Stiles concludes when the others looks up, their eyes fixed on Stiles. He thinks he can hear them mentally beg him to continue, to come with an idea, a proposition, anything to make the awkwardness disappear and turn it into the gentle ease again.

He’s human. He’s human and they’re werewolves.

Months before he and Derek got together, the man had given him a few books about werewolves. Things that were actually true (or most of it), contrary to all the shit he’d found on the internet. It originally was to understand pack dynamic better, as well as help the wolves develop and help them train and protect themselves.

At the moment, he’d easily went over the part ‘Relationships’ without paying much attention to it.

Maybe he should have.

Werewolves call their partners mates, he remembers that. The book didn’t really give a reason why – it’s just a thing. Like they call their pack a _pack_ and not just a group. Like they call their Alpha an _Alpha_ and not just a leader. There are no such things as _mates for life_ , he remembers that as well. Sure, they can stay together their whole life, but there isn’t one ultimate person they’re supposed to wait for, like it is often romanticized.

The difference from just the word boyfriend, is the _intention_. The underlying meaning.

God, he was so _stupid_ to forget that.

Mates mean home. Protection, care, pack. It means fighting for each other, being linked to one another, in a way. Blending together as one.

There are currently three werewolves that are capable of having such a mate.

All three are looking at him.

Stiles groans quietly (doesn’t notice the shift in Scott’s body, the quiver of Isaac’s lips, how Derek’s brows furrow together) and shakes his head.

“Listen,” he starts and stops immediately.

He’s got no fucking clue as to what to say.

_Hey, it’s cool. It’s just that we’re all really fucking into each other and I think you’re all really amazing and hot, so please let me declare that we’re all boyfriends now and make out for a moment._

Yeah. No. not going to happen.

“It’s not that easy,” Derek speaks up.

To say Stiles is surprised it’s Derek opening his mouth is an understatement. Not the fact that he’s talking – as much as everyone, _everyone_ , likes to tease Derek about his inability to produce more than four sentences in a row, Stiles has learned Derek knows his words. No, the fact that he’s willing to talk about _this_ surprises him. Derek’s always kept a bit to the background whenever Stiles tried to bring it up, saying that “he trusts him” and “they’ll manage” and “not to worry, it’s not important anyway that he’s gotten off like a freaking train while thinking about Isaac of Scott or both of them.”

So now he’s trying, and Stiles is pleased.

He’s making an effort.

This is his opening, his shot. Derek is giving him something to work with.

Stiles couldn’t be more grateful.

He shifts on the couch, planting his feet firmly to the floor, and holds his hands up.

“Actually… it might be.”

The looks he gets vary between confused, surprised, hopeful and an eye roll. The eye roll is Scott’s. Stiles glares at him, can’t help it. There’s currently only one person who’s trying to get rid of this confusing tension between the four of them, and Scott is rolling his eyes at him.

Stiles has to weigh his words carefully, he knows so. Saying one thing wrong might result in Derek closing up again, Isaac getting lost and Scott’s temper playing up. So he runs over all the possibilities in his head, trying to come up with the best way to formulate what he wants, what he means. Trying to put into words what he’s thinking and what he hopes the others are thinking as well. It’s not easy, but it’s all they got at the moment.

“We can work this out,” he finally states, rubbing his hands over his thighs. They’re sweaty. How come he didn’t realize that sooner?

Scott opens his mouth – presumably to protest, but Stiles cuts him off with a shake of his head. “No, just… listen, okay? Just listen? This won’t… I don’t know the right way to do this. But just listen to me. If we wanna work this out – something needs to be done.”

He can’t look up. Wants to, but he can’t. It’s distracting, those three there. Looking at him. Waiting. It’s distracting and confusing and just slightly too much. How do other people start these kinds of relationships? Stiles wonders if maybe he should’ve looked it up further, besides the ‘ _oh yeah it’s a thing that happens no biggie_ ’, because it is a huge fucking deal. It’s his life, and theirs, and somehow it all tangled together and they’re at the point where he’s even unsure about touching Derek, even though that stupid fuck is supposed to be his boyfriend.

“Let me start with… I think… I care about you. All of you,” he mutters. His voice is quiet but honest, tentative but certain. He isn’t trying to hide anything. He wants to be honest, needs to be. “And not just – friendly. It’s… Derek,” he starts, daring a glance up at the oldest of them, their alpha. He meets his eyes, and Stiles can’t help but smile at that, keeping contact for only the briefest of seconds before he’s looking away again. “I… I love you, you know that. You’re my… You’re mine. I’ve always been honest with you, and I’m gonna keep doing that. I’m still yours, and I don’t love you any less because of… of the others.”

He’s blushing.

For Christ’s sake, he’s blushing and his mouth feels dry, unable to swallow the embarrassment that’s creeping up on him. No one told him this would happen during these kinds of conversations.

But it’s Stiles, and once words have started coming, they’re unstoppable, so he continues without missing a beat.

“Which… you can’t blame me. It’s Scott. He’s my best friend. I’d trust him with everything, and I’ve never been closer to anyone, and he’s… He’s home. He’s my home. His touch is grounding and… if I could have an anchor, if I needed one – he’d be it. So I love him as well, could never not love him. I can’t help it, it’s just the way it is.”

In the corner of his eye, Stiles can see Isaac’s hand sneaking towards Scott and clutching it tightly, questioning, maybe a little unsurely. “Nothing’s happened between us,” he blurts out, face beet red. “Not since… we haven’t… I’m with Derek. He’s with you. We’d never… no. That didn’t happen,” he feels the need to make sure, to reassure both Isaac and Derek and they hadn’t cheated and never ever would.

Because hopefully cheating wouldn’t be necessary and they would all work this out.

Is it selfish to hope that?

More importantly, does he care?

(He does).

“So… Isaac…” Stiles addresses the last one, pursing his lips. “You’re… You have this way of getting under people’s skin without them realizing it. You kind of creep up on them and before they know it they care about you and have fallen in love with you and can’t imagine a life without you around. And I’d… you’re brilliant. And I love you as well. Just as much as them.”

He’s said everything.

Almost everything.

“So I know how I feel… about all of you. I didn’t mean for it to happen this way, and I’m sure neither did you, but I’m also sure there’s more to all of you, so… that’s… that’s it.”

He’s run out of words, has spilled everything he wanted to say. His heart is bare, so to speak, so all he can do now is wait and hope he didn’t make the biggest fucking mistake of his life.

The hand that touches his cheek comes as a surprise, forcing him to lift his head and look up. He’d been too caught up in trying to stop existing he hadn’t even noticed someone moving.

It’s Derek.

His hand is big and warm, just like Stiles remembers, and he leans into it without a second thought, pressing a kiss to his palm.

“I love you too,” Derek says, calm and slow and easy, the way he’s said it before. He looks around to the two other wolves, but his hand stays on Stiles’ face. “And you too. Both of you. I don’t know why or how, but I do.”

Isaac is the next to move, immediately sinking to his knees next to Derek with a sound that makes Stiles wince for him, loud and hard when he touches the ground. He’s pressing himself as close as possible to the alpha it seems, and Stiles can’t blame him, because Derek radiates safety. Being with him is safe and secure, because he knows Derek will protect him – them – always, because he cares and when Derek cares he does it good, all the way, without holding back.

Stiles couldn’t be more grateful to have someone like Derek in his life.

He shoots a pleading look towards Scott, reaching out one hand to him and the other to Isaac, combing his fingers gently through his curls. It both surprises and amuses him how easily Isaac relaxes into him, moves closer. He’s tactile, Stiles knows, but it’s also more than that. He’s not just looking for _a_ touch. He’s looking for _their_ touch.

If Stiles’ breath hitches in his throat, he’ll deny it later.

It takes Scott a little longer to come over, but finally he does, with slow movements. He moves down next to Stiles, and they fit together like only best friends do, touching as much as possible without moving into ‘inappropriate’. Stiles rests his hand on Scott’s thigh, Scott tilts his head to Stiles’ shoulder. Isaac moves closer to his kind-of-boyfriend, settling in front of him on his knees. Derek slides his hand up Scott’s knee. They’re somehow all touching, all together. It’s not right yet, but Stiles may hope they’re getting there.

The silence stretches between them. Just four uneven breaths and four heartbeats, which slowly fall into the same pace. Nothing else. They don’t need anything else right now. This is enough.

It’s enough to know that they feel and are and want. That there’s a possibility for them, no matter how small or how far away. It’s _something_ , and something is better than nothing.

Isaac is the first one to open his mouth, and Stiles suspects that if he hadn’t been this close, he wouldn’t even have heard him.

“I’m not sure if I know how to love,” he whispers at the lowest of levels, “but if I do, I love all three of you. More than anything.”

No one moves for a second, too shocked or surprised or stunned.

Until they move all at once.

Derek wraps an arm around Isaac, pressing himself closer to him. Stiles slides his hand further down Isaac’s neck, cupping it gently. Scott leans forward to brush his lips over Isaac’s forehead, then over his cheek, then over his mouth, where he lingers and whispers an “I love you too, Isaac. I love you so much.”

Stiles can tell what it does to Isaac. His face softens, eyes fluttering shut and bottom lip caught between his teeth and basks in the attention, takes in everything for a second in case it might disappear the next so he can hold on to it, remember how it felt to have all of them, right here, this close to him, wanting him and loving him.

At least that’s what he thinks it feels like, because it’s what it would feel like for him.

What it does feel like.

Having all three of them up here is more than Stiles ever thought he wanted – ever thought he could have. It’s too much and not enough. It’s perfect.

He’s not going to let it go.

Which is why they’re not finished yet.

“I know you guys…” He can’t finish his sentence. He can’t use the word _mates_ yet – not yet. It’s too much, too heavy for this tentative thing between them. They’re nowhere ready to use it yet, but he wants to let them know that he understands, that he thinks they can give it to each other. Or that he at least hopes so.

“I know this is not usual. Not just… how there are four of us. But you three. I know. But we can work it out,” he finally promises. Scott tenses while Derek relaxes. Stiles squeezes his best friend’s thigh. “We can, Scott. Trust me. We’ll deal,” he whispers as he turns his head to look at him.

Their gazes lock. Like they’ve done so many times before, yet now it seems different. Because it is different. They’re different, the situation’s different. Everything’s different but Scott’s eyes are still the same. Dark and shining and endless and every cliché rolled into one, but they’re Scott’s so Stiles doesn’t care for the clichés. There are worse things.

Without making the conscious decision to do so, Stiles leans closer – and closer – and closer. He feels Isaac and Derek looking at them, and whatever happens now might be the best thing ever or the worst thing ever. They won’t find out until it’s over.

Stiles never cared much about risks.

His lips touch Scott’s. It’s exactly like he remembers. Soft. Familiar. Home.

They move together like _just friends_ really shouldn’t be able to, but then again, they aren’t _just friends_. They are some fucked up combination between _sorta-kinda-maybe-more-than-friends-eventually-boyfriends-I-guess_.

Stiles reminds himself they need to work on labels. That is, he plans to remind himself but then his mind sort of shuts off and he just feels. Focuses on Scott’s lips, the tentative sweep of his tongue over Stiles’ lips, the sharp intake of breath when Stiles opens his mouth and welcomes Scott in, eager and happy and easy. Like they always are, like things always are between them.

He breaks away when Derek’s hand is on his thigh again (he knows it’s Derek because it could recognize his touch everywhere – he’s not even trying to be cheesy when saying that), flashing Derek a careful smile, as if asking if it’s okay, if he can deal with this, if it would be okay if he sometimes kisses Scott because he loves Scott and likes kissing. If it would also be okay if he kisses Isaac sometimes because he loves Isaac and wants to know what kissing with Isaac feels like.

Derek doesn’t reply. His face is almost blank, unreadable, but Stiles can see the storm in his eyes. And more importantly, he can feel how Derek’s lips tremble lightly when he leans up to brush a light kiss to Stiles’ mouth, then shifts and claims Scott’s mouth in a kiss, deepening it within seconds.

It looks like he’s been craving it, wanting it like a dying man, wanting to taste and explore and feel. Stiles understands, God, does he understand. He knows Scott’s kisses are sweet and Derek’s kisses are controlling and now the two mix together in an almost battle, fighting for both gentleness and roughness in the best way possible. Stiles wants to be a part of it, he wants it so badly he can nearly taste it on his tongue, can see his own want projected on Isaac’s face because he is just the same. Uncontrollable. Wild. Needy. He can see it all, and he wants to give.

Stiles has the decency to at least wait until Derek pulls away before he tangles his fingers into Isaac’s curls and uses that grip to force the wolf closer, his mouth open before their lips even touch, his tongue sneaking out to find the roof of Isaac’s mouth, his teeth, swallow his gasps and noises until nothing else exists but the two of them – the four of them, Derek’s hand still warm on his leg and Scott’s shallow breathing in his neck.

It takes long minutes before they can break apart.

The kiss between Derek and Isaac is shorter, slower, no battle or raw need, but just a gentle reassurance that _yes, I’m here, don’t worry, we’re not going to leave_. Stiles can’t tell which one of them needs the reassurance more, but they have it here, can bask in it and let it heal them. It’s good.

Scott pecks Isaac’s lips with the familiarity only boyfriends can have, smiling and blushing.

Stiles feels like he’s floating. If things like out-of-body-experiences are real, he’s having one now, floating above himself and looking down at these three people, the three people he wants most, and who want them and each other.

“Told you it could be easy,” he hears himself say without even making the decision to open his mouth.

What he gets in return is a snort from Derek, another eye roll from Scott, and Isaac’s hand on his cheek, cupping it to pull him closer for a brief kiss, a silent _thank you_ , Stiles thinks.

It’s still not easy at all, but it’s a beginning, he thinks. It’s enough. 


End file.
